The board voted unanimously to deny parole for Brownell, 59, who was trying to for the 14th time to be released from prison. He has never received a single vote in favor of his release since he was first up for parole in 1987.

Family members of Betts collected more than 3,000 signatures to lobby the board to keep Brownell behind bars. Nearly 1,600 people signed an online petition at rrstar.com against parole. Nine signed the online petition in favor of his release.

Gary Betts, Louise’s brother who lives in Loves Park, said the board’s decision was a relief for his family. He thanked those who signed petitions and sent letters to fight Brownell’s parole in support of the family.

“One of the biggest fears of my mother and father ... was that he would get out someday,” Gary said.

The board also decided that Brownell can’t request parole again for five years, the maximum time allotted between parole hearings by state law.

“It’s an enormous sense of relief,” Gary said. “The healing begins again for five more years.”

Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato and Boone County State’s Attorney Michelle Courier joined the family in Springfield today to hear the board’s decision. Both top prosecutors had previously traveled to Dixon with the family to lobby the board during a hearing to deny parole.

Brownell kidnapped Louise Betts as she hitchhiked along North Second Street in Loves Park sometime around Sept. 27, 1977. He held her at knifepoint as he drove her to rural Boone County, where he raped and then killed her. She was 17.

Betts’ body was discovered six months later.

Before he was arrested and charged with Betts’ murder, Brownell attacked another woman. He abducted a woman who was seven months pregnant at a Rockford laundromat on Jan. 31, 1978. Brownell raped her, pistol-whipped her and ran over her with his car, but she survived because of deep snow packed around her body, according to Register Star archives citing state records.

He was sentenced to between 100 and 300 years in prison but is periodically up for parole because he was sentenced under the state’s old indeterminate sentences. The old system had judges sentence the convicted to a range of time in prison, and the Prison Review Board decided when to release them.

Brownell is one of four high-profile convicted killers who is up for parole this year. The board denied parole for Joey Didier’s killer, Robert Henry Lower, in February. In May, the board will vote whether to release John Hogan’s killer, Calvin Madison. Simon Peter Nelson, who killed his six children, will make his plea for parole in June.

Barb and Gary Betts asked that people focus now on helping the Hogan family deny parole for Madison, who is the next local to go before the board. There are petitions both for and against his release at rrstar.com/madison-petition.

“There’s still time for the community to support them,” Gary said.

Kevin Haas: 815-987-1410; khaas@rrstar.com; @KevinMHaas

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